THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
CAMPUS
Students gain perspective from volunteer
FULL STORY PAGE 6A
Michael Barringer-Mills didn't pursue his interest in humanitarian work until seven years after graduating from the University of Kansas. Once he did, Barringer-Mills found his calling working for Doctors Without Borders in Africa. On Monday, he returned to the University to speak to students about his experiences.
CAMPUS
"Celebrate EveryBODY Week" kicked off on Monday to promote healthy body image at the University of Kansas.
Events shed light on eating habits, disorders
Student Health Services and other organizations on campus will be hosting events throughout the week geared toward promoting a healthy lifestyle.
FULL STORY PAGE 3A
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUSH SAYS REPUBLICAN WILL WIN
Governors see themselves as key in turning their party around FULL AP STORY PAGE 3A
weather
Classifieds. ... 5B
Crossword. ... 4A
Horoscopes. ... 4A
Opinion. ... 5A
Sports. ... 1B
Sudoku. ... 4A
index
All contents, unless stated otherwise
© 2008 The University Daily Kansan
Outside the box
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 103
Jordan Jacobson, Wamego freshman, observes the faculty art on display in the Art and Design Building Tuesday afternoon. The Art Department Faculty Exhibition continues for the rest of this week.
Jessie Fetterling/KANSAN
BOARD OF REGENTS
Craving longer summers
Proposal will request shorter school year for Kansas universities
fchambers@kansan.com
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
May
Kansas universities could have a shorter school year as soon as fall 2009.
Hannah Love, Dodge City senior and student body president, said she would submit a proposal to the Board of Regents before its next meeting asking to change the accreditation policy that requires Kansas universities to hold school for two 15-week semesters.
The Regents next meeting is March 12 and 13.
Student Body President Hannah Love plans to send a proposal to the Board of Regents that could shorten future semesters at the University of Kansas by two weeks.
Love said that she thought academics were important, but that students who worked during the summer to pay for tuition would benefit from having a shorter school year. She also said a shorter school year would make students more competitive for internships.
Bryan Marvin/KANSAN
The Regents require universities to hold school for 150 days each year. Love, members of University and Faculty Senate, and other students said they would like to see the policy based on the number of hours or minutes students spend in each class. The University would not only have to convince the Regents the policy should be changed, it would also have to convince the other state universities as well.
Eric Foss, Overland Park law student and a member of Student Senate and University Senate, said the University's school year was a week longer than that of other schools in the Big 12 and many schools in the nation.
Foss said such a change would throw the schedule off because most classes would not be able to start every hour on the hour, but that he thought the University Registrar could plan classes around the new schedule just as easily as it planned the current schedule.
He said if classes at the University were five minutes longer, students would be attending class for, overall, the same amount of time they were now, but with a shorter semester.
He also said he did not think most students would care if they had to spend five more minutes in class, but that they would appreciate having a shorter semester.
“When I was an undergirl, I was burnt by out how long the semester was.” Freed said.
Brittany Cohoon, Overland Park freshman, said she wished she could spend five more minutes in her math class each class period. She said it was difficult for teachers to complete their lessons in 50 minutes and that a longer class period would give students more time to complete tests.
Rick Levy, a law professor and the president of Faculty Senate, said faculty members supported the policy change as well, but he did not think the Regents would consider the change unless students initiated it.
Cohoon said she would also be interested in seeing the University lengthen spring break. She said it would give out-of-state students more time to visit their families. She also said that the issue was of special importance this year because Easter would be during spring break.
"If the faculty or the administration pushes this at the Regents level, it appears to be selfserving because it looks like we want to work
"And I wouldn't object to going home two weeks early," Cohoon said.
less," Levy said.
In addition, Levy stressed that the other state universities would have to support the policy change for the Regents to consider it. "If KU tries this as just a KU initiative, it will fall," Levy said.
Love said she first discussed the policy change with the other student body presidents from Kansas universities last fall. She said the general response from the presidents and their universities was negative.
But, Love said she still thought the issue was important and that she would encourage Kansas State's student body president, Matt Wagner, to support the initiative during their trip to Washington, D.C., for "Day on the Hill," which takes place March 10 and 11.
Foss said if Love could convince the student leaders of the state's other universities to support the policy this spring, the policy could be changed during the summer. But
Because of this trip, Love will not be able to attend the Regents meeting next month, but she said she would send representatives.
Board of Regents
The Board of Regents is in charge of six state universities as well as one municipal university
Those universities are:
Fort Hayes State
>> Kansas State, including KSU at Saline
Pittsburg State
Kansas and KU Medical Center
Wichita State
Washburn (municipal)
he said the schedule change could not be implemented until the fall of 2009 because the Registrar has already begun creating the class timetable for the next school year.
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Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
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